Check out Wikipedia. No matter what the party,it's not an easy job to wind your way through any political democratic system. That's the experience part. Whether that was a good or bad experience is for him to explain.

I can't believe Marie-Reine Le Gougne is even allowed to run, or that she would. I mean, seriously?

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Gwendal was caught in a storm with bigger interests than an ice dancing Olys gold and a lot of totally different ISU dirty laundry. You'd prefer he stayed at home and missed his biggest life-achievment oppoturnity (at that point) ? Surely it's a crime to skate.

Marie-Reine Le Gougne is a member and as it's not yet a total diktatur, she's allowed to run for election yes. Read a bit and you'll find she does every f-time since SLC, nothing surprising, she usually gets between 5-10%, and it's more because she tries to still remain a big player here. Anyway, she has the right to do it even if nobody votes for her.

I REALLY hope Gwendal wins. But I can already predict the scores. Something between 70-90 % for Didier. Please, prove me wrong this week end !

All the figure skating world's big name are the same when it comes to lobbying and pushing their skaters. At one point, for a lot of people in the ISU, it was easier to put all the responsabilities for SLC on two sole people. Don't be naive, it was ways bigger than that.

For one, I think she should have been banned from the sport permanently.

Secondly, even if the sport still chose not to ban her for life, surely it would be prudent to include language that forbids anyone who has been suspended for unethical sports practices for running for the highest office in that organization. Figure skating has so many serious credibility issues, and it deserves them.

And you would have banned her and not the other 4 judges who voted for the russians ? Why ?

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I'm not Michiruwater but my guess would be that she confessed to at least two people that she voted in the way she'd been pressured rather than judging the event, whereas the other 4 judges never said either way. I'd equally say the toe tapping cheating judges should have been banned for life too.

For one, I think she should have been banned from the sport permanently.

Secondly, even if the sport still chose not to ban her for life, surely it would be prudent to include language that forbids anyone who has been suspended for unethical sports practices for running for the highest office in that organization. Figure skating has so many serious credibility issues, and it deserves them.

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As far as I see it, Le Gougne was picked out as a 'weak link' and was bullied by Stapleford and the rest so that they could get the result that they wanted.

I'm actually not certain - was anything everything proven conclusively regarding La Gougne's role in the SLC controversy? I know she confessed and then retracted her confession, and it seems like more of a difficulty in dealing with all the pressure on her than anything else. Of course, a federation president should be able to handle various forms of pressure and agendas, so this doesn't really recommend her for the role. But I imagine that there are active federation presidents who have done far worse than she ever did.

The ISU shut down the investigation before much was proven to any standard beyond the limited suspension she and Gailhauguet received from the ISU, and the IOC was happily compliant. However, she confessed at least twice, in front of the elevators to Stapleford & Co. and when breaking down in the referee's meeting, where she could have contracted her confession and called out Stapleford's bullying. It was only after Gailhaguet spoke to her that she retracted her confession. Lavoie gave a lawyer-vetted written statement that back in the fall at a GP LeGougne told him and a Swiss judge or official that her vote was promised to here friend Alla, after the Swiss witness said she was coming forward.

Despite the fact that 1 of 11 in the administration of the French fed is female, I do not think that Marie-Reine Le Gougne is a good choice for federation president. I would imagine that the president has to schmooze and politik internationally. I equally imagine that Le Gougne has little pull and few realiable friends/allies in the relevant and other sports both nationally and internationally to support her. The FFSG comprises not only of figure skating/ice dance but several others (including curling), Gwendal has been politiking, making friends across various sports, attending events publicly and making the press aware of it. (Photos of handshaking and articles on whatever event with Gwendal commenting on various relevant issues that pertains to the FFSG and/or the sports that it governs)

Still, Gailhauguet is a typical oily politician à la Chirac and Berlusconi, that despite scandals and negative opinion still manage to stay/get re-elected to office. Who knows?

Gailhauguet is one of the old evil lizards, the kind that thrive with power and will do whatever it takes to keep it. (The kind of old lizards that thrive in places like the IOC)

For any future contender I suggest not just schmoozing fellow athletes, and pushing great ideas, because being the nice clean candidate alone will not be enough.
This isn't a matter of playing a game "[...] where you win, or you die", but it is a game of power and money.

Also, one needs to spend lots of time on this, I have no idea how long Gwendal was officially campaigning but it seemed to be a short time.

Someone needs to hand Gwendal the Blu-ray sets of seasons 1 & 2 of House of Cards(since Netflix isn't available in France yet)